response to romney's statement say he'll cut federal funding for the public television network pbs. organized by the consumer action network. >> mark is off. joe is here. the wheels have fallen off the texas ranger's bus. >> they are off the bus is in big trouble. first wild card days in the books and two teams are moving on and two others had a short post season experience. in texas soon to be free agent job hamilton may have played last game in a rangers uniform. single up the middle off darvish. 2-1 in the 7th. 2 out hit off derek. texas manager ron washington left to ponder how his team that looked so dominant could be one and done in the post season after the 5-1 win. they'll now meet the yankees if they are wondering about protocol, you do pop champagne after a win. the story may now be sinking in after winning the al west on wednesday. parker will be the starting pitcher and he doesn't think the team'sability to stay loose will change in the playoffs. >>> i don't think there's anybody on this team that's going to change their approach or the way they get ready for the game l

funding for pbs. would your children be forced to go without seasame street and the gang if government spending stopped differenting money to pbs? the woman who runs the workshop said it wouldn't come to that. >> the workshop receives very, very little funding pbs. when they always tout out big bird and say we will kill big bird that's misleading because we will be here. >> she said the workshop gets most of its money from product licensing, corporate under writing and sponsor ship. >> all right. you know call it good luck. the orioles, bump into a museum. we are getting a quick lesson on sports history. just go to sports legends museum next door to orioles park. tonight we show off the great collection. >> reporter: for all the memorable moments, milestones and stories still being written, sports play a big role in many marylanders lives. some of our heros are recognized by their haircut, others by just the first name and some by just a number. toyed you can find most of that history in the old camden station, camden yards. >> we use any and everything to help us tell our s

stop the subsidy to pbs. pn i like pbs. >> that means you will gut our investments in schools and education. establishes the beginning. there are two more debates to go. >> governor of rally is working as a surrogate for the obama team, talking to reporters after the debate. back here at home, several college campuses have to debate what parties. -- watch parties. sheldon joins us live from johns hopkins university. >> we are about a month away from the election. a lot of voters we talked to seem to be passionate about both candidates. you'll remember from the 2008 election that college-aged voters were energized and excited headed into the election. based on the conversation we have had here, the same seems to be happening this year. >> the dining hall, it is never this fall. i think everyone is really excited for the election and the debate progressed more than seven it lasted as piled into the dining hall in the johns hopkins campus to watch governor romney and president obama. >> what is the mood on campus heading into the election? >> it is are more excited than usual about p

not even level an attack directed at his own network. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i like pbs, big bird. i actually like you, too, but i'm not going to keep spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for it. >> cnn political analyst and editorial director of the national journal. hi, ron. >> good morning, carol. >> i know it's not the most important issue of the night. plenty of people actually think lehrer helped mitt romney by allowing him so much time to answer questions. fair? >> i don't know. he has been an important force in presidential debates. last night was not a good night for him. the new format has a lot of strength, allows you to drill down on a subject, providing sustained focus on one area at a time. and he simply did not take advantage of it. he didn't have meaningful follow-ups. he didn't challenge them. he really didn't kind of force them to move beyond their kind of comfort zone and their talking points. i think it was a tremendous missed opportunity. i bet the other moderators will learn from it and being more aggressive in using t

viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. one stage, at two men coming tens of millions of viewers. barack obama and mitt romney are getting set to square off for a televised debate. -- one stage, two men, tens of millions of viewers. for the first time, we might finally hear details on just how they plan to do it. our north american added there is in denver for us tonight. >> when the candidate stake to the stage tonight, they will want to convince the people that they speak their language. sometimes it is more of a stretch. >> [speaking spanish] >> obviously, they will not be speaking spanish tonight. the largest growing ethnic group could be critical in this election. there is going to be even more importance in the future. quarter of all americans under 18 are latino. canvassing in colorado, a swing state where the latino vote is hugely important. now, some are disappointed that he has not done more to help the illegal immigrants that come across the border. a few find this election a hard choice. >> we know that there is only one candidate that supports any kind of immigration

stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: ari berman is a political correspondent for "the nation" and author of the book "herding donkeys." last year he wrote a piece called "the gop war on voting." much of what he wrote has come to fruition. he joins us from new york. good to have you on this program. >> i am a longtime admirer. thanks for having me. tavis: honored to have you on. let me talk about this piece you wrote for "rolling stone." i don't want people to think we are demonizing or casting aspersions on the gop, but i want you to lay out the facts. is it the case that most of this push, these strict voter i.d. laws, this is being pushed almost exclusively by republicans, yes or no? >> there are issues where democrats and republicans are at fault, where they are both to blame. this is not one of these issues. this is an issue that since the 2010 elections, laws that restrict the right to vote have been passed overwhelmingly by republicans in states with republican legislatures and republican government. that includes

more years. [ romney] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. . >>> i like pbs. i love big bird. i like you, too, but i'm not going keep on spending money on things to borrow flown china 350 topay for it. >> and that is one of the most memorable quiets -- quotes. as soon as it hit the airways, everyone was abuzz on twitter and facebook to have their say in the political showdown. he's more. >> i don't want to kill jobs. >> governor romney ruled out revenue. >> reporter: as the country buzzes with scorecards from the first presidential debate, it seems the biggest winner is social media. >> this is the biggest debate in terms of the use of twitter and mass use of facebook. >> reporter: wednesday's debate was the most tweeted event in u.s. political history; it was the fourth most tweeted telecast of any kind. about 11 million comments coming down fast on platforms like twitter and facebook in realtime. and who won and who lost also clear. experts finding more than 47,000 tweets mentioning gop presidential candidate mitt romney and the words win or winner compared to a little over 29

subsidee to pbs and other things. i like pbs. i like big bird. >> somebody started a fire big bird twitter account. in a half hour they had 9900 followers. thought to be outdone somebody started a facebook page called big bird for president. the next debate takes place a week from tomorrow in danville, kentucky when vice president joe biden and congressman paul ryan face-off. we will air that debate starting at 6:00. >>> developing news, and police are at the scene of a double homicide that may have resulted from a neighbor dispute. one man was taken from the scene in a police car. officers arrived after 6:00 to find two bodies on the front lawn of a house. a that i bore who lives across the street confronted the men with the firearm. >> a sheriff deputy shot a man in san jose. it happens near the busy cal trans station at about 5:30 tonight. abc7 news reporter uh -- ama dates is here to explain. >> we just learned he was a san jose resident and before he was shot he was on the tracks and acting erratically. the trouble began when an emergency call was made about a person lying on

broadcast system. >> i am going to stop the subsidee to pbs and other things. i like pbs. i like big bird. >> somebody started a fire big bird twitter account. in a half hour they had 9900 followers. thought to be outdone somebody started a facebook page called big bird for president. the next debate takes place a week from tomorrow in danville, kentucky when vice president joe bid and congssman paul ryan face-off. we will air that debate starting at 6:00. >>> developing news, and police are at the scene of a double homicide that may have resulted from a neighbor dispute. one man was taken from the scene in a police car. officers arrived after 6:00 to find two bodies on the front lawn of a house. a that i bore who lives across the street confronted the men with the firearm. >> a sheriff deputy shot a man in san jose. it happens near the busy cal trans station at about 5:30 tonight. abc7 news reporter uh -- ama dates is here to explain. >> we just learned he was a san jose resident and before he was shot he was on the tracks and acting erratically. the trouble began when an emergency

subsidee to pbs and other things. i like pbs. i like big bird. >> somebody started a fire big bird twitter account. in a half hour they had 9900 followers. thought to be outdone somebody started a facebook page called big bird for president. the next debate takes place a week from tomorrow in danville, kentucky when vice president joe biden and congressman paul ryan face-off. we will air that debate starting at 6:00. >>> developing news, and police are at the scene of a double homicide that may have resulted from a neighbor dispute. one man was taken from the scene in a police car. officers arrived after 6:00 to find two bodies on the front lawn of a house. a that i bore who lives across the street confronted the men with the firearm. >> a sheriff deputy shot a man in san jose. it happens near the busy cal trans station at about 5:30 tonight. abc7 news reporter uh -- ama dates is here to explain. >> we just learned he was a san jose resident and before he was shot he was on the tracks and acting erratically. the trouble began when an emergency call was made about a person lying on

rival, mr. obama took jabs at his opponent's comments about cutting funding to pbs. >> elmo has to watch out, too. governor romney plans to let wall street run wild again, but he's going to bring down the hammer on sesame street. >> and finally, it's what supporters had hoped he would have brought up at the debate, the 47% comment made by romney at a fund raising event missing the portion of americans expected to vote for the president. >> it takes more than one party. it certainly can't happen if you are willing to write off half the nation before you take office. >> surrounded by supporters. >> we are strong and we're going to contin fighting forward. >> mr. obama hopes to keep the swing state of virginia blue for the second time in 48 years. >> if you'll vote for me in november, we will win a fairfax county again. >> at george mason university, surae chin 9news now. >> as you know, there are two more presidential debates. the next scheduled for tuesday, october 16. >>> the new estimate puts the deficit for the 2012 budget year at $1.1 trillion. this is the fourth straight year o

rest of your life. >> liberals are more likely to watch law and order. >> tonight, pbs will not be the worst think on television. >> what difference does that make. >> if you wanted to reach an independent swing woman voter by the house and garden channel, if you want to reach a republican leaning law bu less likely to vote swing manning guy the golf channel. >> he did research on blacks who might vote for bush and many are christians that watch these tv preachers. >> now in the name of jesus, i command this debt out of my life. >> so he placed advertisements there. >> in ohio, bush got 8% of the african-american voted. in 2004 he got 16%. because we were able to identify their history was overwhelmingly democratic we had clues they might be reachable. >> this year they want to reach not just swing voters but swing voters in these ten states. >> you take a map of the united states and you just cross them out. we can't win here. >> john: for most of us really don't count. we live in the wrong state. i live in new york. my state votes will go to obama. if all new york swing voters sh

. we want to play about what he had to say about the battle over funding pbs. >> i'm sorry, jim, i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs and stop other things. i like pbs and love big bird and actually like you, too. i'm not goingo keep on spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for it. >> shannon: jijim lehrer did nt look happy about the possibility of funding cut. big bird has been out talking about this. pbs released this statement saying as a supporter of education governor romney should be a supporter of public education yet he he is willing to wipe out services that reach the vast majority of americans. we know big bird was one of the big twitter hash tags and top ecktopics that night. is this a distraction now, this that we are having to talk about the battle over funding pbs. >> absolutely. a false choice as well. look at the particular. governor romney made it clear. we have $16 trillion worth of debt. 5'" additional trillion since this president has been in office. we are borrowing that money largely from china. and so you look at programs and as governor ro

. and squandered easy opportunities to go after romney. such as this moment. >> i like pbs. i like big bird. i like you too. but i am not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from chon ina to p for it. a wide opening. the president took more than 14 hours to come up with a come? back. >> thank goodness, somebody is finally getting tough on big bird. it is about time. >> reporter: many top democrats suggest one of the problems may be one common to incumbents, the president has lived in a bubble, rarely challenged. the obama campaign acknowledged they will conduct a reassessment before the next debate. jake tapper, abc news, traveling with the president in madison, wisconsin. >> such a fascinating point, so true if you think about it, the president inyears , you don't stand next to some one saying you are wrong. challenged. and, that has to be a very different situation and mind set for the president. it was an interesting point. >> you know what i want to know what percentage of the country understood anything in that debate? taxes, you know, economics, way over eve

bird and pbs are ruffling some feathers he told anchor and debate moderator that he would cut federal funding for pbs which would put the casts of sesame workers out of work. they voiced support for big bird. some even created i should say a facebook page called big bird from president. at 4:37 we'll take a quick break. we've got much more straight ahead, so stick around. we've got a lot to show you as you make your approach westbound traffic light as you would expect at this very hour. >> we're back at 4:239. you can see investigators are still here they brought out their mobile command here. this murder took place at around 12:30 in the morning so about four hours ago. now some group of men were here. we're not sure if they lived there or happened to hang out here late last night, all of a sudden shots rang out. we do know that the person who was shot died at the scene. it's early on in the investigation but the police believe this might possibly be gang related. now, it's been a very busy night for homicide investigators because four hours before this murder, there bc from

cutting pbs funding might not directly endanger big bird since "sesame street" gets most of its money from corporate funding and donations. still, mitt romney was depicted making big bird thanksgiving dinner. if romney wins, i die, but governor romney offered some hope. >> i'm not going to kill big bird, i promise, but there can be advertisements on pbs to help pay for big bird. big bird is going to have to get used to kell logs corn flakes. maybe this is what it would have sounded like. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. >> reporter: >> oh, that's too bad. >> reporter: if big bird joined the debate. >> i like pbs. >> reporter: >> oh. >> i like big bird. >> really. >> reporter: jeanne moos, new york. >>> good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. victor blackwell is off today. it is 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. out west. thanks so much for starting your day with us. we begin this hour with the latest jobs numbers. they are providing ammunition in the battle for the white house. the labor department says 114,000 jobs were created in september with the unemployment rate co

, jim, i made a stop the subud sid difficult to pbs. i like pbs. i love big bird. ache chully like you, too, but i'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for it. >> say what? burton, the former host and executive producer of pbs' reading rainbow had this to say yesterday on cnn. >> i was outraged. i couldn't believe the man actually fixed his mouth to say that. >> why? >> attack on children, soledad. >> later on friday while campaigning in virginia the president piled on, too. >> when he was asked what he would actually do to cut spending and reduce the deficit, he -- his big example was to go after public television. for all you moms and kids out there, don't worry, somebody is finally getting tough on big bird. rounding him up. elmo's got to watch out, too. governor romney plans to let wall street run wild again but he's going to bring down the hammer on sesame street. it makes perfect sense. >> the sesame workshop isn't part of pbs but that network does put the show on your tv. mitt romney is proposing to cut you and your kids off from pbs

can be advertisements on pbs to help pay for big bird. big bird is going to have to get used to kell logs corn flakes. maybe this is what it would have sounded like. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. >> reporter: >> oh, that's too bad. >> reporter: if big bird joined the debate. >> i like pbs. >> reporter: >> oh. >> i like big bird. >> really. >> reporter: jeanne moos, new york. >>> good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. victor blackwell is off today. it is 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. out west. thanks so much for starting your day with us. we begin this hour with the latest jobs numbers. they are providing ammunition in the battle for the white house. the labor department says 114,000 jobs were created in september with the unemployment rate coming in at 7.8%, that's a drop of 0.3 from august. the obama and romney campaign jumped on these figures and, of course, they came down on opposite sides. cnn political editor paul steinhauser joining us this morning. good morning, paul. so there's one month, hard to believe, till election day, and no issue bigger than jobs, right

will stop subsidies to pbs. i will not keep spending money on things to borrow money to pay for it. i will take programs that are currently good programs, but if you run more efficiently at the state level. number three, i will make government more efficient and cut back the number of employees. i will combine some agencies and departments. cutbacks will be done through attrition. this is the approach we need to take to balance the budget. the president said he would cut the deficit in half. unfortunately, he doubled it. he has put in place almost as much of debt held by the public as all prior presidents combined. >> here is one of many big bird related tweets -- here are some facebook comments. nextnext up is jerramy. >> i really like obama is plan on health care and i really like that he wants lower taxes for the middle class. >> next up clinton from south carolina, democrat. >> i believe that barack obama was foremost the best in the debate. he talked about being for the middle class. he is for the poor man. the rich is already rich. why keep the port port? far more theama was

. he will not borrow money to pay for a program. he said he would cut pbs and big bird. he was very specific about what he would do. in certain places though romney questioned obama and obama just looked at him, when obama said basically you get a tax cut or a tax deduction for moving jobs overseas. mitt romney said i've been in business last 25 years, i don't know what you're talking about. basically obama was vague last night. but romney came with specifics. jon: cory, you described the debate as being sort of very specific and bordering on wonky but isn't that what people are looking for right now? aren't they looking for specifics and numbers and ideas here? >> i think you're absolutely right about that. always interesting to me tv commentators and others complain how debates and political discourse is boring and turning american people off whether this is exactly the time they should pay close attention. when they do this is when they see the contrast between the two candidates standing on same stage. if you look reports come out this morning, fact checkers, "l.a. times", "wall

situation with student loans and those issues like that. mitt romney had mentioned shutting off pbs, which broadly to think about the fact that that is one station on television that does help other people. how to break it down and help other people that do not understand. i think that was another thing that -- the fact that a lot of the times they were talking about the tax and economy, that was like beating a dead horse. people brought up how obama was saying the same thing. i think that is because they are beating the issue like a dead horse. you have to come up with something else to explain the economy. host: what did you do? caller: i am a student. host: do you go to fed vale state -- fayetteville state? caller: i'm from new york state. host: thank you for calling in. judy is from north carolina, mitt romney supporter. caller: good morning. host: what did you think of the debate? caller: i did not think it went far enough in some of the engines. i have watched over the health care situation. i have read up and have had help to try to decipher a lot of it. hospitals being fined

-. >> i will stop the subsidy to pbs. >> if you take such an unbalanced approach, that means you'll be cutting our investments and schools and education. >> taxes took over part of the discussion. >> a $5 trillion tax cut. >> another handshake and more smiles come at least until they meet up again in two weeks. smiles to end it. mitt romney may have the last laugh. two snap polls show more voters think romney won the debate. >> fact check time. the tax cut was mentioned several times last night. >> it kept coming out. the $5 trillion is part of romney's plan and it is king live over 10 years --and it is cumulative over 10 years. >> hallie jackson, thank you. that brings us to our water cooler question of the day. will the presidential and vice- presidential debates have any impact on the way you vote next month? you can share your response at wbaltv.com and on our facebook page, or send us an e-mail to watercooler@wbaltv.com. >> police are investigating a possible kidnapping. a man called 911 reporting a relative was kidnapped. the suspect was demanding money. police found the suspect'

the next debate, no more angry birds. >> romney talked last night about cutting funding to pbs, the home of "sesame street" and big bird was not happy. did you see what big bird did to romney's car after the debate? show what happened. that is unbelievable. he is not happy. he is not happy. >> there is no red america, there is no blue america! this is only the america that can't believe how bad this guy did in the debate. how bad was the defeat? obama lost despite mitt romney doing this. >> i'm sorry, jim, i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i love pbs, big bird and you, too. i'm not going to spend money on things to borrow money from china to pay for it. >> the [ bleep ] fired big bird! america's favorite bird! he [ bleep ] big bird and won! >> romney won with the sound off. dude, he's yelling at you. look up. look up! what are you looking at? what are you writing that's so important? what are you doing -- oh, i didn't realize. that is impressive work. i didn't realize that. [ applause ] maybe you could give that to mitt romney as a souvenir of the night he crushed you in that de

say he'll cut federal funding for the public television network pbs. organized by the consumer action network. >> mark is off. joe is here. the wheels have fallen off the texas ranger's bus. >> they are off the bus is in big trouble. first wild card days in the books and two teams are moving on and two others had a short post season experience. in texas soon to be free agent job hamilton may have played last game in a rangers uniform. single up the middle off darvish. 2-1 in the 7th. 2 out hit off derek. texas manager ron washington left to ponder how his team that looked so dominant could be one and done in the post season after the 5-1 win. they'll now meet the yankees if they are wondering about protocol, you do pop champagne after a win. the story may now be sinking in after winning the al west on wednesday. parker will be the starting pitcher and he doesn't think the team'sability to stay loose will change in the playoffs. >>> i don't think there's anybody on this team that's going to change their approach or the way they get ready for the game like they did these last few

political debate. president obama and mitt romney will begin their debate debating the issues. pbs is moderating. >> facing off this first presidential debate is just beginning. this live picture. waiting for the challenger mitt romney who will face off against barack obama. we have team coverage. kron 4 news at 6:00 p.m. begins now. (male announer) live from the kron 4 news station, this is the kron 4 news. >> we have team coverage. and we are going to begin with catherine heenan. she has been on the >> showing the motorcade but the talking today it was handled by the circuits. romney. handled by the circuits. >> you know what, myou have five boys you have good arguments kills just go with that. , bill clinton was on after -- goal with that. just go with that. >> nobody could have finished this damage in this amount of for years. however his plan is better in the short term and long term. >>catherine: this is particularly good for the challenger that has the proverbial level playing field that with the incumbent. in any of and they suggest that the candidate will lay out a clear plan

. >> he just told the moderator who works at pbs, i'm going to throw your ass out on the street, old man! you -- not only you, but all of those free loloading muppets. that takes not just one ball, but two, two enormous balls. ha-ha-ha! >> mitt romney won the debate last night, which means president obama lost two fights on his anniversary last night. the president seemed a little bit out of it last night. he had all the enthusiasm of a husband talking to his wife's friends at a dinner party. he kept looking down and frowning. it was like he was trying to find something on apple maps. the only thing that could have salvaged obama's performance is if the body of bin laden could have fell from the ceiling onto the stage. >> obama could have waterboarded alladin, put down blue, deported dora the explorer and won walking away. romney won with the sound off. look up, look up. what are you writing's so important? oh, that's -- that is impressive work. >> oh, my gosh, i love that. >> finally, to another race, one as close as the presidential contest. >> family circle's, cookie bake-off, ann

can't not talk about big bird. he's become the big talker. pbs, though, just a small fraction of the federal budget, as obama is quick to point out. so why do you think the push by romney to end the funding? >> for big bird? >> well, for pbs, sure. >> right. well, he said he was a fan of big bird, but i think he used that as an example of a federally funded organization that he believes doesn't need that taxpayer money. it certainly does well with its own private funding drives. i mean, we're forever seeing pbs funding drives, let's face it. so governor romney was just simply illustrating a point that he would be willing to cut even popular things like big bird because he doesn't see that it's a federal responsibility. >> mitt romney now says that he was wrong about that 47% comment as well. listen to this. >> clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and queion and answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right. in this case, i said something that's just completely wrong. >> president obama, surprising a lot of peop

banana. almond butter. it has that combination of carbohydrates and proteins and pb & j and cherries and walnuts, it's what the elite olympians did. they eat real food. >> thank you very much for coming in. if you are running the rock 'n' roll marathon, you should know it's next weekend, sunday october 7th. the finish line is on park avenue before plaza de cesac chavez. >>> kids just starting it sporting career sidelined forever. what every parent needs t know about concussions and why the youngest athletes have the greatest risk. [ female announcer ] you want family dinner to be special. dad, we want pizza. you guys said tacos. [ female announcer ] it doesn't always work out that way. you know what? we're spending too much money on eating out anyway. honey, come look at this. [ female announcer ] my money map from wells fargo is a free online tool that helps you track your spending. so instead of having to deal with a tight budget, you could have a tighter family. ♪ wells fargo. together we'll go far. in deep red apples and in each golden bead. it blends into a perfect crunch you'

we me. i like pbs and big bird and you, too. i will not spend money borrowing from china to pay for it. >> american people have to ask is the reason governor rum rhumb all of the plans because they are too good. >> look, i have five boys, i am used to people saying something that is not always true and keep on repeating it and hoping i will believe it. that is not the case. a friend of mine said you pick losers. . you are ened to your own plane and house. >> two minutes is up. >> i had five seconds before you interrupted me. and then he went for another minute. >> steve: good morning folks, and it was built as a rumble in the rockis and it certainly was and all of the polls, even the pundits on the left. it is clearr romney wound up winning the first of the three presidential debates and chris christty was right although he was derided on sunday morning chat shows. he said thursday morning we'll talk about how the race is upside down. >> gretchen: i was stunned at this debate and how important it was. i hope americans were not watching jersey shore. i hope they were watching this de

food stamp users might go away. much was made of this comment by romney -- >> i like pbs. i love big bird. i actually like you, too. >> all right. i'll make this point. stay away from the whole toy merchandise cohort. when he bad back to school numbers. no money to be made here whatsoever. finally, we got the toughest call of all, the health care gambit. a lot of mistaking people scooped up all of the drug and health maintenance stocks today because of romney's perceived victory and the concomitant belief that if obama care goes right out the window when day one of the new presidency, it's good for big pharma and for health maintenance organizations. to which i say sorry. that is very wrong. in truth, big pharma and the hmos have been gigantic winners off obama care. they made their peace with it. they profited from it. some would say they co-opted it. that's why i warned on twitter not to get too caught up in the benefits of a possible obama care repeal. it may not be as bountiful as you wish them to be. you may have to sell the stocks that people bought today. obama care is so

watch out. >> reporter: the president attacked romney's plan to cut subsidies to pbs and he said romney's positions were so different from what he said in the past he didn't even recognize who he was debating. >> whoever it was on stage last night doesn't want to be held accountable for what the real mitt romney has been saying for the last year. >> reporter: and again vice president biden gave the romney campaign another nugget to jump on. >> obama and biden want to raise taxes by $1 trillion. guess what? yes, we do. >> reporter: biden says the superwealthy need to pay more in taxes. romney says that would kill jobs. in washington, susan mcginnis, 9news now. >> forget the elephants for republicans and donkeys for democrats. there's an election going on in the dog and cat. the washington animal rescue league has this an its website. take a look right there. if you want to cast a vote for bark obama, he's the tricolor hound for south carolina. there's also mittns romney. 8-week-old little kitty cat. here's what you do. you go to warl.org and you can pick your animal. >> cute, very

cuts expire? i want to play video from the houston pbs forum when you are asked, do you want to do away with bush tax cuts? >> the very thing we will have to do -- we will have to let the bush tax cuts go. in order to pay down the national debt. at the end of the day, if you look at the budget, a look at the budget you get down to military and defense spending or the bush tax cuts. >> are you talking about the bush tax cuts on all income levels? >> there is no qualification in that statement. what i said, and i still stand by, there are three things that doubled on national debt -- the bush tax cuts, -- >> the question is, do you want to expire them in total? there was no qualification. >> i am getting there. i think, and i still say, that we have to look at every single one of them and determine if we can use some of that money to pay down our national debt. we can lie to the american people or tell the truth. the truth is that those tax cuts, if we let them expire, will increase our national debt by almost one-half. >> what is your position, mr. cruz? >> i would not allow the bus

jim lehrer of the newshour on pbs, and i welcome you to the first of three 90-minute debates between the democratic candidate for president, vice president al gore and the republican candidate, governor george w. bush of texas. the debates are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates and they will be conducted within formats and rules agreed to between the commission and the two campaigns. we'll have the candidates at podiums. no answer to a question can exceed two minutes. rebuttal is limited to one minute. but as moderator i have the option to follow up and to extend any particular give and take another three-and-a-half minutes. even then, no single answer can exceed two minutes. the candidates under their rules may not question each other directly. there will be no opening statements, but each candidate may have up to two minutes for a closing statement. the questions and the subjects were chosen by me alone. i have told no one from the two campaigns, or the commission, or anyone else involved what they are. there is a small audience in the hall tonight. they ar

morning, i am a big fan of amy goodman. i saw a documentary on pbs for what was called free elections that i have not had a chance to really look at it. it is about getting the votes to the people where they have to be obliged to the people. that is one thing. i would like to see cspan to start on that. every time i see wal-mart commercials and they talk about feeding the hungry and talk about how much money they have raised, it makes me so angry when they won't even pay their people a living wage. if we had a living wage, we would not have to have people on food stamps and we would not have to have people struggling. host: before i get a response, what would be your definition of a living wage? guest it is different for every area. caller: in our area, look much housing is. you cannot make enough money to even rent a home. one more thing -- i love president obama but my anger is when they went into the negotiations for health care, they took the public auction off the table. to me, that is the foundation of it. like she said about medicare for all, there is a choice. that is real choice o

expire? i want to play video of may 3 of the houston pbs forum when you are asked, do you want to do away with bush tax-cut? >> the very thing we will have to do -- we will have to let the bush tax cuts go. in order to pay down the national debt. at the end of the day, if you look at the budget, a look at the budget you get down to military and defense spending or the bush tax cuts. >> are you talking about the bush tax cuts on all income levels? >> there is no qualification in that statement. what i said, and i still stand by, there are three things that doubled on national debt -- the bush tax cuts, -- >> the question is, do you want to expire them in total? there was no qualification. >> i am getting there. i think, and i still say, that we have to look at every single one of them and determine if we can use some of that money to pay down our national debt. we can lie to the american people or tell the truth. the truth is that those tax cuts, if we let them expire, will increase our national debt by almost one-half. >> what is your position, mr. cruz? >> i would not allow the bush

university of denver in denver, california. i'm jim lehrer of the pbs news hour. i welcome you to the first of the 2012 presidential debates between president barack obama the democratic nominee and former massachusetts governor mitt romney the republican nominee. this debate and the next three, two presidential, one vice presidential, are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates. tonight's 90 minutes will be about domestic issues. and will follow a format designed by the commission. there will be six, roughly 15-minute segments with two-minute answers for the first question. then open discussion for the remainder of each segment. thousands of people offered suggestions on segment subjects or questions via the internet and other means but i made the final selections. and for the record, they were not submitted for approval to the commission or the candidates. the segments as i announced in advance will be three on the economy and one each on health care, the role of government, and governing. with an emphasis throughout on differences, specifics, and choices. both candi